When hopes seem hardly worth having, just mount a bicycle and go for a good spin down the road.

The line comes from a late-19th-century magazine piece on the benefits of bicycling that presented Conan Doyle’s enthusiastic testimony. It was later reprinted in cycling and general-interest periodicals, and modern authors sometimes quoted it with small wording changes.

The idea is that when life feels bleak or repetitive, a simple bike ride—focusing only on the act of riding—can lift mood and restore a sense of possibility.

When the spirits are low, when the day appears dark, when work becomes monotonous, when hopes seem hardly worth having, just mount a bicycle and go for a good spin down the road, without thought of anything but the ride you are taking.

When the spirits are low, when the day appears dark, when work becomes monotonous, when hope seems hardly worth having, just mount a bicycle and go out for a good spin down the road, without thought of anything but the ride you are taking.

When the spirits are low, when the day appears dark, when work becomes monotonous, when hope hardly seems worth having, just mount a bicycle and go out for a spin down the road, without thought on anything but the ride you are taking.